1927-2007
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Former PM Chandra Shekhar dies of cancer
Published on Sun, Jul 08, 2007 at 09:27, Updated on Sun, Jul 08, 2007 at 12:44 in 
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New Delhi: Former prime Minister Chandra Shekhar died of cancer in Delhi on Sunday morning. He was 80.
Shekhar died at 0845 hours IST, said a doctor of the Apollo Hospital where the former PM was admitted three months ago.
"He was suffering from multiple myloma," Dr Rakesh Chopra, senior consultant, oncology told PTI. Shekhar is survived by two sons.
Shekhar became India’s eleventh Prime Minister on November 10, 1990 and resigned on June 21, 1991. He was a Lok Sabha member from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh and chief of the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled Shekhar’s death, calling him a truly secular nationalist who was committed to people’s welfare and national development.
Former PM V P Singh described Shekhar “one of the tallest political personalities in India” and “a man of conviction and warmth.”
From Young Turk to seven-month PM
Shekhar was called Chankaya and Bhishma Pitamaha of Indian politics for his vast experience in public life.
He had friends in all political parties and believed that there are no permanent foes or friends in politics.
Shekhar was born on July 1, 1927 in a farmer's family in Ibrahimpatti in Ballia. He was a student leader in Allahabad University and joined the socialist movement in the 1950s.
His first big break in politics came in 1962 when he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a member of the Praja Socialist Party.
In 1965 he joined the Congress and soon became the general secretary of its Parliamentary Party. As an MP, Chandra Shekhar opposed policies he thought were creating monopolies.
He and other ‘Young Turks’—leaders who opposed Indira Gandhi’s ‘elitist’ policies—in the Congress were imprisoned during the Emergency. Shekhar became the president of the Janata Party, which was formed in 1977 and formed the first non-Congress government at the Centre.
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His biggest contribution to Indian politics was to assert the independence and prestige of the Office of Prime Minister of
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Let us not be hypocrites. Indians are masters in it. What did this man who died of cancer achieve? Has
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Great loss of nation. Today very few politician think for nation. Either they think for thier state or their cast
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Started well only to finish in disasters.
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Chandrashekar has to be remembered as a secularist who encoraged the entry of youth and talents from other walks of
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